1898. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL,. 



35 



pected to be, and when they see reports of such briRht pros- 

 pects, and accounts of immense yields coming in, or expected, 

 they naturally decide that the actual crop will be very large, 

 and hesitate to buy unless at a very low price, or if they re- 

 ceive shipments on commission they feel that it will be best 

 for the shipper if they sell as soon as possible, even at a 

 low price, for they may not, and probably do not, know much 

 about the great uncertainty of a honey crop. 



Of course, bee-keepers themselves know that no matter 

 how bright or favorable the prospects are, there is no cer- 

 tainty of the crop until it is actually secured, and, with comb 

 honey, I might say until it has been taken off the hives and 

 graded, for sometimes it may happen that there will be a fair 

 crop stored in the hives in sections nearly ready to come ofif, 

 when the flow may suddenly cease, and a large part of the 

 sections may be partly or wholly unsealed; or in some cases 

 the honey may be sealed and off the hives, and upon coming 

 to grade it part of the crop may be unsalable on account of 

 bee-bread in the sections. Such instances have occurred with 

 me, and no doubt with thousands of others. 



The past season a man wanted to buy one of ray yards, 

 with the bees, hives, supers, honey and all, complete. As it 

 was in the best part of the white clover flow, this yard was 

 being run for comb honey, and an experienced bee-keeper who 

 has handled bees the best part of his life, and myself, spent 

 half a day in looking over the yard and estimating the 

 amount of honey we thought was actually on the hives. His 

 estimate was 2,500 pounds ; mine, 2,100. The sale was not 

 made at that time, and owing to a sudden cessation of the 

 flow, and bee-bread, there was only about 1,300 pounds of 

 salable honey, and but little of this would grade even No. 1. 



Now, another thing that dealers and buyers do not know 

 when forming their estimate of the crop from the reports sent 

 to the bee-papers, is the fact that some of these reports are 

 from beginners who have not had experience enough to form 

 any correct estimate of the crop, or even the prospects of 

 one ; or some of the most favorable estimates may come in 

 from old, experienced bee-keepers who have but a small num- 

 ber of colonies, and overlook the fact that some seasons 20, 

 or even 40 or 50, colonies may secure a fair crop, when a 

 yard or range fully stockt in the same, or a locality fully as 

 favorable, may secure but a small crop, or none at all. 



To show that I have reason to believe that some begin- 

 ners are not able to form a correct estimate of even the 

 prospects, I will relate an incident that took place here last 

 spring. A young man living but a few miles from me, who 

 knew nothing aboyt bees, bought 15 colonies, and expected 

 in the course of time to make his fortune, or at least a good 

 deal of money out of them, for the man from whom he bought 

 the bees helpt him to figure out how he could increase them 

 to over a thousand colonies in a few years, if he wisht, when 

 the revenue from so many, even if but a small amount per 

 colony, would be considerable. 



He came down to see me a number of times, and was very 

 enthusiastic about his bees and the prospects. He used to 

 look over my bee-papers, and intended to subscribe for all the 

 bee-papers himself, as soon as he sold some honey; and as 

 some of these papers had a good deal to say about dishonest 

 ■commission men, and developing the home market, he decided 

 cot only to sell his crop in the home market, but to sell at 

 once for fall delivery, the large crop of comb honey — 1,500 

 pounds at least — which he felt sure to get ; and actually did 

 travel over a large extent of territory in the spring, taking 

 orders for fall delivery, at 8 cents per pound for white honey, 

 clover or basswood — "customer's choice" — and 7 and 6 cents 

 for amber and dark, with special prices on 100 pounds or 

 more. 



Now, last spring was one of the most unfavorable for bees 

 that I have ever known ; there were hard frosts every few 

 nights, until the night of June 1, when we had our last severe 

 one, and altho the bees were pretty strong in stores the pre- 

 vious fall, I had to feed nearly 2,000 pounds to the colonies 

 In the home yard. 



On one of his visits I askt this young man if his bees had 

 enough stores. He said they had plenty, for the man he 

 bought them from told him that each colony had enough to 

 last it until .fune, even if they were unable to gather any until 

 then. But, besides, he said that they were bringing in more 

 honey, almost every day, than they could use, in fact some 

 days, for awhile, they were bringing it in so fast that he had 

 to enlarge the entrance to some hives in order to let them in 

 and out fast enough, and he had put on some supers, altho no 

 work had been done in them as yet. 



His visits suddenly ceast, and I did not see him again for 

 some time, but when I did he informed me that his bees had 

 all died but one colony. 



As some may not believe that these reports in the bee- 



papers, such as I have described, do influence buyers and 

 dealers, I will in my next, among other things, show how 

 they actually do. Southern Minnesota. 



The Amalgamatioti of the Two Uulous. 



BY WM. MUTH-RASMUSSEN. 



You are entirely correct, Mr. Editor, when you, in your 

 foot-note on page SOT (1897), say that I •' meant that no- 

 body had recently brought up the amalgamatibn subject pre- 

 vious to the Buffalo convention, in the bee-papers." In my 

 article on page 769 (1897), I used the expression, " as no- 

 body has brought the subject up." If I had had any reference 

 to what was done at the convention, I should have written, 

 "as nobody brought the subject up." 1 wonder that Mr. 

 Newman failed to see the difference which the word " has " 

 gives to my meaning, and to what he implies. 



Since the question of amalgamation was first brought up, 

 Mr. Newman has, it seems to me, shown an entirely unneces- 

 sary touchiness on this subject, and he appears to regard all 

 who favor amalgamation as enemies of the National Bee- 

 Keepers' Union. If Mr. Newman should take his son out of 

 a primary school and place him in a graded school for the 

 purpose of a better education ; or if he should interest himself 

 in having the primary school elevated into a graded school, 

 would he then regard himself as an enemy of the primary 

 school ? 



As a matter of fact, I did not know what was done at the 

 Buffalo convention in regard to amalgamation, until I saw (in 

 the Bee Journal received by last mail) the printed report, 

 containing Mr. Newman's communication to the convention, 

 and also his reply to my article on page 759. Mr. Newman 

 uses, unfortunately, in both of those articles, as well as on a 

 number of previous occasions, such offensive language that it 

 must necessarily detract from the respect which otherwise 

 would be accorded him on account of his various ofticial posi- 

 tions and his administrative ability. I admire the spirit of 

 dignity and forbearance with which the convention past by 

 Mr. Newman's communication without comment or discussion. 



I do not think that anybody seriously questions Mr. New- 

 man's integrity or honesty of purpose, and his zeal for the 

 welfare of the old Union is certainly commendable. But he 

 should consider that many others are as honest and intelli- 

 gent as himself. He may be a better lawyer than those who 

 framed the constitution of the new Union, and he may be cor- 

 rect in his criticism of its defects ; but he lacks the spirit of 

 progress, which overlooks unimportant technicalities, and, 

 irrespective of old usages, " goes ahead," doing " the greatest 

 good to the greatest number." 



I agree with you, Mr. Editor, in the concluding sentence 

 of your foot-note on page 807. If amalgamation is not con- 

 summated, the members will gradually leave the old Union 

 and join the new one. But this will mean a gradual decrease 

 in the funds, until there will not be enough left for any prac- 

 tical purpose. In view of this contingency would it not be 

 better, as contemplated, to transfer the funds to the new 

 Union, while they amount to a respectable figure, and keep 

 them up to a certain standard, such as I proposed ? Mr. 

 Secor is probably as capable as Mr. Newman to handle the 

 funds to the best advantage, and if they, as I proposed, are 

 only used for defence, and are even, through a large member- 

 ship, kept up to a certain standard, deemed sufficient for the 

 purpose — while in the old Union they must have been fluctua- 

 ting — I fail to see what objection anybody can have to the 

 change. 



In proposing the sum of $500 as the standard defense 

 fund, I did not mean to restrict the fund to that figure. I 

 simply considered it as the lowest amount that would make a 

 respectable showing. If the directors in their wisdom should 

 deem it advisable to make the standard higher, I, for one, 

 shall raise no objection. 



Inyo Co., Calif., Dec. 30, 1897. 



No. 3 — Recollectious of au Old Bee-Keeper. 



BY DR. E. GALLUP. 



(Continued from page 20.) 



My next bee-keeping was in Fond du Lac county. Wis., 

 in a prairie country, and away from the basswood, willows, 

 etc. There was a basswood grove three miles west of me, at 

 Fairwaler. As soon as I was settled I began to look around 

 for bees. I found a man west of me that had five colonies in 

 large box-hives, that had never swarmed, and he had never 



